Haute Hotel Haze
by Wild Rhov
Summary: Lucy and Natsu are forced to share a hotel room. Sleeping with a guy gets Lucy curious, especially when it seems like Natsu is having a VERY good dream.
1. Sleep Talking

_A/N: The book cover is something that I colored (with permission) based on lineart by **konatakona** and found on DeviantArt: ** fav. me/d53rs0h**_

_Disclaimer: Everything but the hotel is owned by Hiro Mashima. The hotel is run by Rhov Enterprises. Discounts available. Horny dragon slayers not included.  
_

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**Haute Hotel Haze**

a _Fairy Tail_ fanfic

by Rhov

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Chapter 1

**Sleep Talking**

"What! It's how much a night?" Lucy shrieked.

"As I said," the hotel concierge intoned stiffly. "Ten thousand Jewels a night. You won't find a better deal in town."

"Better deal my butt!" she snapped.

Natsu grinned at her. "It's okay, Lucy. We can sleep under the stars again."

Lucy spun around at him and held up a finger. "No. Just...no. We've been sleeping outdoors all week, I need a bath, and it's raining with lightning out there, so there is no way we're sleeping outside. Still, if it was going to be this much for a hotel room, the client should have paid us more. For two rooms, ten thousand each...twenty thousand Jewels! We only got paid a hundred and fifty thousand Jewels for this mission, so split between the two of us, that's seventy-five thousand each. If I have to paid ten thousand, I won't have enough to make rent."

Natsu hummed and rubbed his chin. "Ah!" he exclaimed. "I know. We'll share a room."

She glared at him for a moment, taking in his carefree smile and innocently shining eyes. "If it was any other man, I'd suspect he was up to no good, but considering it's you I guess it's safe."

"Of course it is!" he grinned, not catching what she meant. "If we split one room, that's five thousand each, so you'll have plenty for rent."

"Yeah, that would work," she pouted. "Except then I'd have no food money."

"Then this time the room is on me," Natsu decided. He pulled out a ten thousand Jewel note and placed it down on the desk. "One room for the night."

"Natsu!" Lucy cried out. "You don't have to. I can probably find a small job later to get food money."

"Nah, don't sweat it," he beamed. "Consider this payment for all the times Happy and I have crashed at your place."

She had a sheepish smile and felt her cheeks flush. Having a guy pay for a hotel room felt...odd. And nice. Almost as if they were...

"Here's your key," the concierge said, interrupting her thoughts.

Natsu snatched it up and took Lucy's hand. "Let's go check out this expensive room. For the price, it had better be awesome."

He pulled her fast, and Lucy tripped along behind him. They had taken a mission with just the two of them. Sadly, the client was allergic to cats so Happy had to stay home, so it was a bit awkward. Natsu had been moping through the whole first half, missing his best friend, so she was glad to see him smiling again. To cheer him up, she went along with his crazy ways.

"This is sort of fun," Natsu laughed, pulling her through a hallway. "Taking a girl to a hotel alone! It feels like we're on a honeymoon or something."

Lucy gulped and blushed, yet Natsu's grin was so innocently devious, like a child playing Adult more than like a real adult. Truly, if it was any other man in the guild—especially a playboy like Loke or an exhibitionist like Gray—she would be on her guard. However, this was Natsu, and Natsu was...well...Natsu!

He unlocked the hotel room and ran inside with a wild cackle. Lucy sighed and watched him run around from one area to another, exploring everything with carefree laughter. The room was huge, posh, with a wide patio that looked out over the ocean. Sadly, the rain was still pelting down, blocking most of the view. She also peeked around the place. To her relief, the bed was massive. There was more than enough room for two people. She settled her bags down, removed her shoes, and gave a stretch.

"Well, I'm getting a bath," she declared.

"I'll order food," Natsu said. "It's on me too, so I can order whatever I want, right?"

She giggled softly. "Yeah, go ahead. Just make sure I get some sushi or something."

Lucy spent nearly an hour soaking in the massive stone bathtub. The hotel had bath bubble, scented oils, and all sorts of luxury items. There was a glass-enclosed shower as well, which she used to wash her hair. She realized she left her clothes in her bags, but she figured it was only Natsu, so she walked out in her towel.

"There's still hot water if you want to wash up," she said as she pattered out into the main room to get her clothes. There was a sectioned changing area, so she hid behind the ornate screen to put on her nightgown. "Did you get good food?"

"Mmm, yeah, good," Natsu said with his mouth full. "I saved enough for you. I...um...uh..."

He paused for a moment, and she could sense the heat rising in the room. Lucy wondered if she was visible, but the partition was high, thick enough to hide her completely. Then she noticed an oddly placed light that cast a silhouette shadow on the wall behind her. She saw her naked profile. Still, that did not seem to be very revealing. It was only a shadow.

"I'll go get my shower. Finish off the food." Then Natsu rushed off to the bathroom.

"I wonder what's up with him," she mused to herself.

Lucy shrugged it off. Maybe he saw something else, or maybe he suddenly realized he could play in a bubble bath. She giggled to think about him with a mountain of bubbles. She just hoped he did not overdo things again and leave the whole hotel washed away in a sea of soapy foam.

She sighed and settled down to the meal. Natsu left a huge mess of bones and bits of vegetables he did not particularly like, so she had to carefully pick through things to find the sushi platter. She was amazed by the taste. Even the food in this hotel was exquisite, true _haute cuisine_. She was curious how much all of this would cost Natsu, but there was no sign of a bill. Perhaps he would get charged before leaving, or maybe he already paid for it so she would not see the ridiculous prices. It was sweet of him to pay for it all, almost like a date.

She nearly slapped herself for thinking that. This was Natsu, after all!

Then she heard a noise from the bathroom. She almost thought she heard Natsu call for her. Worried if maybe the idiot had slipped in the shower, she walked up to the door and was about to knock.

"Ahhhh...mmmmmmm..."

Lucy froze with her knuckles just shy of the door. Her face must have turned redder than Erza's hair at the sound.

"Haah...nnnngh...mmmmmm, yeah!"

She gulped hard at the sensual noises echoing in the next room. "He...isn't...doing _that_...is he?" Her whole body felt on fire. As another moan echoed in the room, she felt her stomach coil up and shifted her thighs. "No! No way! This is Natsu, after all. He's probably enjoying the smell of the shampoo or something silly like that. I've been reading Erza's collection of books too much."

She rushed away from the door, sat stiffly on the edge of the bed, but images kept flitting into her mind.

What did Natsu look like in the shower? Was he pink _down there_ as well? How big was he? What sort of faces did he make when he was overwhelmed with sensual pleasure? She wanted to know how he sounded as he moaned her name.

_Well_, she reasoned, _I guess he's a normal teenager, so maybe doing that in the shower is normal for boys. At least he's getting it out of his system now instead of trying something naughty in the middle of the night._

Too quickly for her to thoroughly convince herself, Natsu stepped out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his middle and his pink hair flattened down from being wet.

"That was one awesome bath," he exclaimed.

"Did you...have fun?" she asked tensely.

"Yeah. I feel much more relaxed now."

That sort of answer only made her more suspicious.

"Wow! Lucy, come here. Look!"

She was hesitant about walking over, but she realized he was looking out the massive window facing the sea. The rain had stopped, and the moon was rising over the waves, casting them into ripples of silver. It was truly breathtaking. Natsu began to open the door.

"Get some clothes on," Lucy shouted.

"Huh? Oh yeah!" All he did was wrap a robe around himself. "Come out here, Lucy. It's warm, so it's okay if your hair is wet."

She approached him slowly, watching him for any body language that hinted at perverted intentions. Suddenly, Natsu grabbed her around the shoulders and yanked her forward. She blushed as she felt the rigid muscles of his torso and his body heat through the thin robe.

"Look at that ocean," he whispered. "It's like a little bit of heaven."

She blushed at his words, but looking out at the scenery truly was magical. "It's really pretty."

"Yeah," he sighed, enthralled by the scenery. "If I ever get married, I'm taking my wife to this hotel. It's really romantic, the perfect place for a honeymoon."

"There you go again, talking about honeymoons," she sighed, feeling uncomfortably awkward in his arms.

"Well, don't you ever think about things like that? Like, you see a dress and think you want a wedding dress like that. Lisanna used to talk about those sorts of things all the time."

"Lisanna, huh?" she muttered. Slowly, Lucy moved out of his hold. "If you ever marry the girl of your dreams, she would probably like this place."

"Yep, I think she would," he grinned.

Lucy felt a stabbing disappointment and slipped back inside. "I'm tired. I'll take the right side of the bed."

"Then I'll take the left." He closed the door and went inside. "But Lucy, your hair is wet."

"I'll be fine."

"No, you could catch cold. Let me dry it, like this!" He threw off the robe and set himself on fire. Once the flames were gone, his hair poofed out, all dry.

"You are _not_ burning me up."

"Don't worry, I'll be really gentle."

That sort of reply made her cheeks hot again. Natsu came up behind her and ran his hands through her hair. Lucy stood stiffly, ready to smell the stench of burned hair, except all she felt was a little heat, more like a blow dryer without the wind. Natsu's fingers were careful as he combed them through her golden strands, and she felt her hair drying fast.

"Your hair is really silky," he complimented. "When I used to do this for Erza, she always had tangles."

"You would dry Erza's hair?" she asked.

"Sure, when we were kids we'd all bathe together: her, me, and that ice bastard."

"Oh," Lucy muttered. "Erza mentioned something about that. So...you've bathed with Erza, huh?"

"Well, I was really little. It's normal for kids to take baths together, right?"

"I don't know," Lucy whispered, thinking about her lonely childhood, rarely seeing other children.

"Haven't you ever bathed with someone, Lucy?"

"No...well, Cana, but she sort of sneaked into my bath. And soaking in an onsen or public baths don't count."

"All dry!" he announced happily. "I'll get dressed, get the dishes out, then come to bed."

"Keep to your side or I'll put a pillow between us."

"Haha! No problem," he smiled in that carefree way of his that reassured her that Natsu would never try anything perverted.

_That shower must have been him enjoying the heat, or the smell of the shampoo, or even if he was doing something naughty, he must have been thinking about Lisanna, or maybe Erza. I wonder how old they were when they bathed together. I wonder if he ever bathed with Lisanna._

Lucy fell asleep almost instantly. She was so tired from the long mission, she could hardly be blamed. She vaguely felt someone crawl into the same bed, but Natsu was stealthy about it, so it did not wake her up much.

Her dreams were erotic, thoughts about being in the shower with a man, wild sex under the cascading water as strong arms pinned her to the cold tiles of a wet wall. Then a new dream, and she was on the beach in the moonlight, making love by the shore. She never saw the man in her dreams, but she heard his voice and how he called her name.

"Lucy!" The husky moan of the fire dragon slayer always sent shivers through her skin.

Lucy woke up drenched in sweat. The thunderstorm might have passed, but it left behind a horrible humid haze. It seemed Natsu also did not like the stifling weather. He had kicked off all the blankets to her side and laid sprawled on his back wearing only boxers. Lucy giggled at his flame-print boxers. That was so like Natsu!

Then she saw something else.

Those boxers were definitely stiff in the middle!

She looked away fast. She had heard that this sort of thing happened to men in their sleep. It meant nothing, just an automatic physical response. Still, she wondered if he was dreaming about something. Who was in his dreams? What girl made his body react this way?

Then she saw the stiffness twitch. Her breath hitched softly and she struggled to swallow.

"Natsu?" she whispered. He moaned, but he did not wake up.

Lucy stared at that stiff mast in the moonlight. The curiosity was overpowering. Her hand reached over to it, but she drew back.

She wanted to touch it...so badly!

She laid back down on the pillow, trying to force herself back into sleep, but she kept opening her eyes to stare at the bulge. The moonlight coming through the wide windows illuminated it like a spotlight on the star of a show. She bit her lip, screaming at herself, yet intense curiosity was driving her on.

Carefully, putting almost no weight into her hand, she laid her fingers over Natsu's erection. She made it look like her hand had only drifted on top of him. With her head on the pillow, she watched his face closely, ready to slam her eyelids shut the moment he woke up and looked down at her hand resting on his crotch. That way he would think she was only cuddling and happened to reach too low. However, Natsu was completely asleep, breathing hard, the air hissing as it passed between his mostly-closed lips.

Her hand got more adventurous. She wrapped her fingers more around him, feeling the thickness.

_My God, he's huge!_ Lucy thought to herself. _That's pretty amazing. Wow, if he's this big, he could really pleasure a woman. And it's so...so hot!_

She swallowed, feeling like she could drool at the sensation of his hardness on her fingers, only separated by the boxers.

Then Natsu moaned. "Mmmm...L-..." The sound croaked in his throat before becoming anything understandable. Still, it was enough for Lucy to let go fast, draw her hand back a little, and get her heart racing.

_It's okay. He's still asleep. Still, this is really perverted and wrong. I need to stop._

Suddenly, Natsu's hand flopped on top of her hand, right over his crotch. She swallowed a squeak of surprise and clenched her jaw to keep from making any noises. Then she felt Natsu's hand moving, forcing her hand to move too. He was rubbing himself in his sleep, and she felt even more the stiffness twitching under the fabric. His hot fingers stroked himself as he groaned in a dream.

"Mmm...more," he mumbled to some phantom of his mind.

Lucy gulped hard and looked down at his hand on hers, both on top of his hidden cock. Taking a huge chance, she gave his stiff length a squeeze.

Natsu's jaw clenched, and she thought for certain he must have woken up. Instead, a sigh sputtered out and he rasped out in a dry throat, "Suck me."

Lucy's chest shivered. His hand moved away, giving her access. She looked down at the stiffness, then up to his somnolent face. Natsu was definitely asleep. He even snored a bit before sniffling up some snot. Slowly, she inched down to his legs. Staring right down at his boxers, her whole body heated up. A hundred naughty desires came to mind. She bet he would not wake up even if she slid herself on top of him and rode him hard. However, she did not want her first time to be with a sleeping man. It was also unfair to Natsu.

"Please," he begged to his dream woman. "I want...mmm...peez..."

She leaned over and brushed her lips over the stiff bulge. It leaped and hit her in the nose. Lucy laughed nervously. Then she angled her head up to the tip and wrapped her lips around the part that poked the boxers.

"Nnngh," Natsu moaned, tensing in his sleep.

Lucy was shaking. If Natsu woke up, there was no way to get out with a logical explanation. This was...oh so wrong! Still, she wanted more.

"More," he mumbled.

"Naughty Natsu," she chuckled. She kissed up and down the length, feeling him twitch at each touch. His sleepy breathing was getting faster. Then softly, padded by the boxers, she bit the midpoint of his cock.

"Aaagh!" he cried out in his sleep. "More." A soft snore was the only thing that told her he really was still asleep.

Lucy went back up to the tip of the tenting pole and wrapped her lips around it again, taking as much into her mouth as she could with the boxers still in the way. Her hand held the lower part, matching her mouth to her touches, rubbing and sucking on his cock through the boxers. She heard his breathing growing faster. Her thighs tensed as she felt moisture increasing. Softly, Lucy moaned into the fabric.

"Ahh!" Natsu groaned, and again she was certain he must have woken up.

Then Natsu's hand collapsed rather ungracefully onto her head, thrusting her down upon him even more. He grunted in his sleep and twitched his hips in sleepy thrusting. Lucy sucked harder, using her teeth to scrap over the cotton boxers. Just as she thought she should go for it and free him from his undergarments, she tasted something odd. She pulled up and saw a wet spot growing outward from the stiffness in the boxers. Lucy pulled back in shock.

"Is that...?"

She looked at Natsu's face, flushed pink with a relaxed smile. He grumbled something unintelligible. Lucy bit her lip, wondering if he had truly just ejaculated in his sleep. Carefully, she reached her finger forward to where the fluid had seeped through. She felt a little squish out onto her finger, tested the sticky texture between her thumb and index, then stuck her fingers into her mouth to taste it.

Bitter...salty... "Oh God!" she gasped. "He really did."

"Mmrph," Natsu moaned. "Wuv you...mmm...-sanna."

All the heat left Lucy's face. Lisanna? A chill ran down her arms, prickling the skin. She looked down at the boxers again, now relaxed although moist. She got out of the bed and walked away backwards, needing to get away for a moment to sort out her emotions. She covered her mouth with a shivering hand and blinked her eyes fast to chase off the sting of tears.

Dreaming of Lisanna, huh? She liked the white-haired girl, and although Lucy liked Natsu, she would definitely support a relationship between them so long as it would make Natsu happy. Doing that to Natsu while he was dreaming about another woman felt...dirty.

"I'm horrible," she muttered in shame.

Natsu rolled over onto his side. Lucy looked at him with sadness and pity, feeling unworthy even to be a friend.

"Lucy," he muttered in his sleep. "Come back."

Although she wanted to cry in mortification, she still walked over to him. She slid back into bed, and Natsu's arms immediately wrapped around her, squeezing her against his bare chest.

"Mmm...smell good," he hummed in a dream.

Lucy smiled sadly. Lisanna might be the woman he fantasized over, but at least he also dreamed about her. Feeling a little better, Lucy closed her eyes and slowly fell back to sleep in Natsu's arms.

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The next morning Natsu woke up a little late, feeling rested but unusually tired. Lucy was already up making tea in the tiny kitchenette on the other side of the hotel suite.

"Morning, Natsu," she called out cheerfully.

"Mm...mornin'," he called back, barely able to see her. Still, watching Lucy swiftly moving around in the kitchen was a relaxing sight. He would never tell her something so sexist as she looked good in the kitchen, but surprisingly...she really did!

Natsu rose slowly from his pillows and cracked out his stiff neck. He sniffed. Something smelled off. Then he looked down at the mess in his boxers.

"Shit," he hissed quietly, blushing hotly. "Even after I worked it off in the shower. Damn."

He looked fast to the sink where Lucy was humming and boiling water. Had she seen him like this? He had no blankets over him, so she must have. Yet if she did, she would have hit him, or at least shouted in anger and called him a sick pervert. Instead, she seemed in a good mood.

"Hey Lucy," he called out. "Uh...does this place have darjeeling tea?"

"Let me check," she said, and she walked over to a cupboard.

While she was searching, Natsu rose and raced into the bathroom. Lucy heard the door slam shut and looked back at him. She smiled plaintively, feeling sorry for Natsu. She had purposely kept her back to him so he could escape the humiliation.

A few minutes later, Natsu came out wearing different boxers with a robe wrapped around him. Lucy smiled pleasantly as she set his tea in front of him.

"Darjeeling, two sugars as you like it. Did you sleep well?" she asked amiably.

"Mm," he hummed, sipping the steaming tea. "And you? I wasn't...loud or tossing around, was I?"

"You talk in your sleep," she told him.

"Yeah, Happy mentions that, too," he muttered, and he felt like shrinking even more. "Did I...um...say anything weird? I mean, they're only dreams but..."

"I couldn't make out much," she answered honestly. "Something about Lisanna."

Natsu jolted in confusion. "Huh? Lisanna?"

Lucy dared a glance up at him. "Yes, you said her name." She was amazed to see him looking confused, not embarrassed. She wondered what that meant. Didn't he normally dream about Lisanna when having those dreams? Or maybe he was the sort who always forgot his dreams in the morning and simply did not know what his subconscious was fantasizing over.

"It wasn't a lot," she assured him. "I slept really well."

"That's...good," he mumbled, sipping more tea to hide his troubled face.

Lucy smirked into her teacup as she watched his eyes roaming and thinking. His confusion was somewhat cute.

An hour later, they had eaten and packed back up. The rain had cleared, the sky shined blue, and only a few rain puddles in the road showed that there had been a summer storm the day before. Lucy glanced back to the hotel and smiled.

"Hey Natsu, when you marry, you should definitely take your bride here. It's a perfect getaway."

He grinned happily. "Great! After all, it's your opinion that matters most." Then he stomped forward, splashing a few puddles as he headed down the road toward Magnolia.

Lucy paused and blinked in shock. She had meant to say that as a way to encourage Natsu to pursue Lisanna again. Why was it _her_ opinion that mattered?

Just what were his feelings for her and Lisanna?

She had only a few seconds to question this before Natsu took her hand and pulled her along.

"Don't be a slow-poke, Lucy." He grinned happily. "Hey, I wanna pay for our hotels from now on."

"What...?"

"But only if it's just the two of us," he insisted rather firmly, "and only if we share a room. Okay?"

That made Lucy blush, and this time she was the one who said, "Isn't that...sort of like being on a honeymoon?"

He blinked at her question, then the smile widened. "Yeah, it is. So that's what I wanna do."

Lucy's cheeks went from pink to crimson. Natsu merely laughed at her reaction as he pulled her down the street with his fingers firmly around her hand.

**End of Chapter 1  
**

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_A/N: After over 100 reviews demanding for a second chapter, I wrote this story from Natsu's POV. Please read on. (Hint: He was NOT dreaming about Lisanna!)  
_


	2. Hotel Dreams

_A/N: Holy crappers, you guys! Over 100 demands for a 2nd chapter. You people...you're gonna make me cry in happiness. _T_T  
_Since you all wanted to know just what Natsu was dreaming about, this is "Haute Hotel Haze" from Natsu's point of view._

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Chapter 2

**Hotel Dreams**

"What! It's how much a night?" shrieked Lucy.

Natsu folded his hands behind his head and looked around at the hotel foyer where they had taken shelter when it suddenly opened up and began to pour just minutes after finishing a mission. He only half-listened to Lucy shout at the snooty concierge. Money, money, money! That was all she worried about, but that was simply how Lucy was. He did not mind too much, except he really just wanted to sit somewhere. The bad guy whose ass he kicked made his ankle throb.

He gave his blonde teammate his most appealing smile. "It's okay, Lucy. We can sleep under the stars again."

Lucy spun around at him and held up a finger. "No. Just...no. We've been sleeping outdoors all week, I need a bath, and it's raining with lightning out there, so there is no way we're sleeping outside."

Natsu pouted. He actually preferred sleeping in the open. It smelled better than the chemical sterilization of hotel rooms, and Lucy looked rather pretty with her sleeping face lit up by starlight. Not that he would ever tell her something like that! Still, sleeping in the rain definitely was not fun. Happy hated it the worst, so although his best friend was not with them this time, he reasoned that if Happy were here, he would be supporting Lucy's insistence on sleeping in a hotel.

Lucy began whining more about the cost versus their reward. Natsu hummed and rubbed his chin. Math was not his best subject. It was probably his worst, right after writing. Trying to calculate all the numbers she said was too hard. Still, there was one sure way to take her worries off of money.

"Ah! I know. We'll share a room."

He grinned with pride that he had come up with that all by himself, and he did not understand why Lucy glared at him. It was simple logic, right?

Lucy grumbled as if threatening him, "If it was any other man, I'd suspect he was up to no good, but considering it's you I guess it's safe."

"Of course it is!" He was glad she understood that he would always protect her, but he did not quite get why she thought any other man would be dangerous. Gray would also protect her, and Loke, and just about any other person in the guild. Still, knowing she specifically trusted him made Natsu happy. "If we split one room, that's five thousand each, so you'll have plenty for rent."

"Yeah, that would work," she pouted. "Except then I'd have no food money."

"Then this time the room is on me," Natsu decided. He did not want to argue the point anymore. He wanted to sit and rub out his ankle. He did not care about money, except making sure he had enough for food. Natsu pulled out the Jewels and placed it on the concierge's desk. "One room for the night," he declared. He always wanted to say that like some businessman on a trip.

"Natsu!" Lucy cried out. "You don't have to. I can probably find a small job later to get food money."

"Nah, don't sweat it. Consider this payment for all the times Happy and I have crashed at your place." He had to admit, he probably ate a lot more than ten thousand Jewels worth of food over the years, but seeing Lucy smile made him hope that now she would stop shouting when Happy ate up all her fish sticks.

The concierge handed them the key, and Natsu pulled Lucy up to the room. Holding her hand, pulled her eagerly to a hotel room...it was somewhat weird. Nice, but weird.

"This is sort of fun," he laughed as he pulled her through the hallways. "Taking a girl to a hotel alone! It feels like we're on a honeymoon or something."

Yeah, that was a weird thing to say, but that was how he felt. By the blush on Lucy's cheeks, he guessed she felt the same way. It was like they were running away after getting married, off to a vacation for just the two of them. Although he had been depressed that Happy could not come with them, now he was rather glad for the opportunity to have some time alone with Lucy.

When they found the room and entered, Natsu was instantly overwhelmed. He had never stayed in such a nice place before. He laughed, thinking the room was perfect. Everything about it, from the nice smell of vanilla and lavender, to the gentleness of the lights, to how fancy the furniture looked...it was like living as a king for a day. He could hardly help but act giddy.

"Well, I'm getting a bath," Lucy declared.

That was when it dawned on him. He was about to spend the night in this perfect room with the most perfect girl he knew. He was glad Lucy could not see the blush on his cheeks.

"I'll order food," Natsu said, not looking over at her to hide his blush. "It's on me, too, so I can order whatever I want, right?"

Her soft giggle just about melted him. He loved to act silly and make her laugh, although he knew he sometimes overdid it. Then Lucy thought he was just an idiot, but that was also fine. She was cute when she got angry.

"Yeah, go ahead," she said, heading off to the bathroom and already loosening her blouse. "Just make sure I get some sushi or something."

Natsu finally looked over his shoulder and watched her step inside the bathroom. It was one of those moments when he wished he had a more useful magic, like X-Ray vision. He listened instead. He could smell as she changed out of the dirty clothes. He heard them rustling and the soft curses as Lucy realized just how badly she stank. Natsu did not mind her smell. She smelled more like Lucy and less like strawberry-scented soap, that's all! It was a heady, musky, sweet-and-sour smell, and it had grown so potent over three days of no showers that the smell of her body just about drove him crazy.

Natsu saw a menu by a buzzer that rang up the kitchens. He picked what looked like good sushi for Lucy, then ordered a bunch of food for himself. Since it was his money, and he did not have to worry about rent like Lucy, he felt he could spend the money on as much food as he wanted. He was not looking at prices, either. Natsu wanted to splurge for once, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity.

Twenty minutes later, the food arrived on a cart, and the server prepared everything nicely. Natsu grinned at the smells. He sort of wanted to eat with Lucy. A nice dinner together seemed romantic.

Wait...romantic?

He scratched his head as he thought about that word. He heard people in the guild talk about things that were "romantic." Walks along the beach, candlelit dinners, nice hotels... They had a beach outside, but the rain made it off limits. There were no candles, but he could always set something on fire. The hotel was definitely nice.

So yeah, this must be romantic!

He waited for Lucy, but she was taking a long time. After ten minutes, he grumbled about women taking forever in the shower. He got up and was going to pound on the door, shout at her to hurry up, but he paused with his fist raised. Lucy let out a gentle sigh. If Natsu's hearing was not so good, he might have missed it.

"She's relaxing," he realized. "Lucy always seems so happy when she can relax." He looked back at the food. He could wait for her and just warm up the food later, but his stomach was protesting. Then he looked back at the door. "I should let her relax. I'll just eat a little," he decided.

Half an hour later, he had eaten just about everything, and that was when Lucy finally stepped out of the bathroom followed by a puff of moist steam. Natsu glanced over and saw her wrapped in only a towel. The lobster he was eating suddenly got stuck in his throat.

_God, she's gorgeous!_

"There's still hot water if you want to wash up," she said as she went to her bag to get her night clothes.

Natsu had forgotten to swallow as he watched her skin glisten with pearls of wetness and her blonde hair weighed down by water. She showed off her legs all the time with those short skirts of hers, but that never really turned on Natsu. Instead, he was a "neck and shoulders" man. Her bare shoulders looked so smooth, the back of her neck glistened pale, and when she pushed away some wet hair, her neck tilted to the side. Natsu fought the urge to run over there and kiss those shoulders, suck on her throat, and tickle the back of her neck.

Lucy was completely unaware of the starving look in Natsu's eyes as she took her clothes and hid behind a changing divider. "Did you get good food?" she called back.

"Mmm, yeah, good," Natsu said with his mouth full. He forced himself the chew and swallow. He was painfully aroused, but he did not want Lucy to find out. "I saved enough for you," he added. He looked down at his pants. The erect pole in them was horribly obvious. "I...um...uh..."

He tried to push it down, but the light touch made the skin react. A lightning bolt shot through him, and Natsu felt like he could barely breathe. He blinked as his mind flashed with a vision of desire: walking behind that changing curtain, yanking the clothes out of Lucy's hands, thrusting her up against a wall, and kissing her hard. He shook his head, banishing the taboo fantasy. His hand reached down again, more careful this time, to see if he could push that erection back down into place. Instead, his hand stroked the hard length. His brain was no longer working.

_Shit, Natsu, you can't do this, not here, not with Lucy in the room._

It was not helping that he could see Lucy's shadow on the wall, the way her body moved, her breasts in profile as she dried off her body. Then he saw her raise a leg and use the towel to dry off between her thighs. As she did, he could smell the femininity wafted through the air. Despite himself, his cock twitched hard. He looked down and saw a spot of moisture leaking out onto his pants. Natsu cursed silently at that. He really was in a lot of trouble now, and he needed to get out of that room before Lucy finished dressing.

"I'll go get my shower," he said quickly, rising from the table and holding his pants so the dripping precum would not get it any more wet. "Finish off the food." Natsu rushed to the bathroom. He realized he slammed the door a little too hard, but he had truly panicked for a moment. "Shit, shit, shit!" he hissed, taking the pants off and staring down at the engorged shaft. "Lucy'll kill me if she found out."

He listened closely into the next room, but he only heard Lucy humming as she finished getting ready for bed. Instead of the large soaking tub, Natsu went to a glass-enclosed shower. He turned the water on to fully cold and leaped in.

"Gah! Too cold!" he yelled. "Okay, think of it as fighting with Gray. Yeah, think of Gray. Think of ice bastards and droopy eyes. Think of Makarov naked. Oh God, no...don't think of that," he shivered in past mental trauma. "Come on, cold shower, do your work."

However, despite thinking about things he found disgusting, Lucy's body kept coming to mind. Plus his body was naturally making the icy water warmer. The cold shower was not helping his hard-on at all. It never did, although it was the only advice he ever got when he once asked Gildarts about _that problem_. He knew he had to work this off or it would just pop back up. The worst thing in the world would be to find himself half asleep in the middle of the night and accidentally rape Lucy. If he had some feverish fantasy and tried to make love to her...

God, he wanted to make love to her!

"Gotta make it quick," he realized.

He turned the heat back into the shower, turning the shivering into pleasurable relaxation. He moaned as warmth flowed back into his skin, but now the water hitting his sensitive parts made things far worse. He cleared a peep hole out of the fogged glass shower walls and made sure Lucy was not peeking in. Not that girls ever peeped on boys in the bath! He wondered why they didn't, yet boys were practically expected to peep on the girls.

Putting that dilemma aside for now, Natsu gripped his cock and stroked it with fast, persistent fingers. He wanted to finish up in record time before Lucy got suspicious, so he let himself fantasize as much as possible.

Of course, he thought of Lucy. He thought of her body close to him in the shower. He thought of her smell inundating him, her fingers stroking him, her moist heat insulating him, how she would sound, how she might taste as he sucked on her throat.

"Oh God, Lucy," he whispered, but he closed his lips tightly. If Lucy heard, she would flay him.

Still, the friction of his hand stroking and coaxing his cock made him lightheaded. The steamy air made his mind foggy, and the vision in his head of Lucy jerking him off drove reason and sanity clear away.

"Ahhhh...mmmmmmm..."

Natsu swallowed hard. He shook his head, trying to remind himself not to make noises, yet he could picture Lucy on her knees in the shower, sucking on him, her mouth around him, her lips hot and firm. He slowed down a little, letting his thumb stroke over the slit as he imagined her tongue lapping at him.

"Haah...nnnngh...mmmmmm, yeah!" Natsu licked his lips as his panting breath dried out his mouth. "God, Lucy, I want you. Suck me, Lucy. I want you to suck me hard. I wanna pound into that throat of yours and make you gag on my c-..._oh shit!_"

He came so suddenly, he hardly expected it. His head slammed backward into the shower wall as cum splashed against the glass wall, streaking it milky white. Natsu knew he wanted to get it over with fast, but that fantasy had really been intense.

"Damn, you mess up my head, Lucy," he whispered, trying to slow down his breathing before the heavy panting got loud enough to hear outside. "Well, at least she didn't hear me. She would have pounded down the door if she had."

Natsu washed up, feeling far more relieved now. Happiness and pleasant sleepiness filled in the space of the lust he had let out. He felt ready to face Lucy again, confident that he could get through this night together without doing something to shame her.

With a towel wrapped around his middle, Natsu stepped out and saw Lucy sitting on the bed looking lost in thought and a little pink in the cheeks.

"That was one awesome bath," he exclaimed, hoping he sounded normal enough.

"Did you...have fun?" Lucy asked in a hesitant tone.

"Yeah. I feel much more relaxed now."

Natsu gave her his widest grin, but he had to worry a bit about that look on Lucy's face. What if she heard something? He needed to distract her. He looked around, desperate for something to talk about, when he noticed the view outside. The rain had stopped, and the moon was rising over the waves.

"Wow! Lucy, come here. Look!" he shouted, eager to make her think about something other than the shower. He began to open the balcony door.

"Get some clothes on," Lucy shouted frantically.

"Huh?" Natsu had been so distracted, he forgot he had not yet dressed. "Oh yeah!" He wrapped a robe around himself and left it at that. He could dress later, after reassuring Lucy that everything was normal with him. "Come out here, Lucy. It's warm, so it's okay if your hair is wet."

He smelled her approaching, but he kept his eyes on the ocean. Still, she was taking too long, her steps sounded too hesitant, and he smelled fear. She really must have heard something, but Natsu wanted her to feel relaxed. This was their hotel for the night, after all. He yanked her by the shoulders and held onto her.

"Look at that ocean," he whispered, hoping the romantic sight would work as a distraction. "It's like a little bit of heaven."

His tactic seemed to work, because she softly said, "It's really pretty."

"Yeah," he sighed.

He glanced over at her. Although she was dressed now, he looked at the ivory neck and the way her chest nearly popped out of the robe she wore over her clothes. She was so beautiful, it was agonizing to only be able to look at her. He held her shoulder a little tighter, yet standing on a balcony like this with Lucy affected him far more than he thought it would.

Feeling drunk on post-orgasmic hormones, he said, "If I ever get married, I'm taking my wife to this hotel. It's really romantic, the perfect place for a honeymoon."

"There you go again, talking about honeymoons," she scoffed.

Natsu wondered if that was a bad subject. He thought girls liked talking about wedding crap. "Well, don't you ever think about things like that? Like, you see a dress and think you want a wedding dress like that. Lisanna used to talk about those sorts of things all the time." And Mirajane, and Erza, and Levy, and Bisca, and Evergreen. All the girls he knew loved to think about weddings, even if they never had a boyfriend in their life.

"Lisanna, huh?" Lucy muttered. She gently pushed his arm off of her shoulders and moved away.

_Oh crap, she thinks I'm thinking about Lisanna._

Natsu knew he should have watched what he said. He was unsure why Lisanna was a sensitive subject to Lucy—not like he and Lisanna ever went on dates or anything, they were just childhood friends—but Erza had warned him not to talk too much about Lisanna around her.

_That's it! Lucy is jealous of Lisanna. Which means Lucy must like me...right? I can't tell. Dammit, I'm not good at figuring out these sorts of things!_

"If you ever marry the girl of your dreams," Lucy said softly, "she would probably like this place."

Natsu looked back out to the ocean to hide his smile and blush. "Yep, I think she would."

_...Because I know you do. If only we were already married, Lucy. I really wish this could be our honeymoon night._

"I'm tired," Lucy said, sounding a little bitter. "I'll take the right side of the bed."

"Then I'll take the left."

Sleeping arrangements! At least she was not insisting to have the whole bed and he take the couch. That was what women did when they were angry, right? At least, according to Macao, who had to sleep on the couch many times before finally divorcing his wife. He wondered if that meant Lucy was no longer jealous. How could a guy make a girl un-jealous? He would have to ask Gildarts the next time he saw the old man. Or maybe Loke. Loke seemed like the sort who dealt with lots of jealous girls.

Natsu followed Lucy back into the hotel room and closed the door. He watched her walking away. He wished he could smell anger like he could smell fear. However, the gleam of her wet hair on her shoulders distracted Natsu. The way those golden locks swayed heavily, clinging to one another like ropes, exposing more of her skin between the clumps of strands, was almost hypnotic. The moist hair was already making a damp spot streaking down her nightgown.

"But Lucy, your hair is wet."

"I'll be fine."

"No, you could catch a cold. Let me dry it, like this!" He threw off the robe and set himself on fire. Once the flames were gone, his hair poofed out perfectly dry.

Lucy gawked in horror. "You are _not_ burning me up."

_Sheesh, she never trusts me with fire. I've never burned her...well, not really bad, anyway. Other than that one time...oh, and that one mission. And the water park. And...okay, so she has reasons to distrust me._

"Don't worry," Natsu said, stepping up behind her. "I'll be really gentle."

When he said it, his mind faltered for a moment. He felt a twitch in his groin, but luckily his body was still too worn out to make a solid effort. He easily moved past naughty thoughts and ran his hands through Lucy's hair. His fingers heated, making the dripping water steam away while not damaging her hair. He knew Lucy's hair was thinner than his thick, pink strands, so he used less heat. That also meant it took longer, but Natsu didn't mind. As his fingers ran through her blonde hair, his heart felt like melting. His fingers raked over her scalp, then down the hair. He carefully brushed his thumb over the back of her neck, feeling her cool skin. Lucy was facing the opposite way, so she could not see the longing in Natsu's face.

"Your hair is really silky," he breathed, but he felt like his voice might crack under the strain of his racing heart.

Natsu's lips drew closer to Lucy's neck, ready to kiss it, suck on it, bite it, and leave his mark on her, _claiming_ her as his mate. His lips parted, ready to capture that slender neck, when he paused. Slowly, Natsu pulled back with a pout of regret. If he did that to Lucy, it would change their friendship forever. There was a chance she might like it, but there was a bigger chance she would despise him.

He silently lipped the curse "Dammit!" He knew he could not risk changing their relationship so drastically when they had to spend the night together. He wanted Lucy to trust him tonight. He wanted so much to sleep next to her. So he pulled his lips back up and continued brushing his hot hands through her hair. He needed to say something, so he blurted out the first thing to come to his mind.

"When I used to do this for Erza, she always had tangles."

Lucy glanced part way around her shoulder, not quite meeting his eyes. "You would dry Erza's hair?"

He aimed his voice to sound carefree. "Sure, when we were kids we'd all bathe together: her, me, and that ice bastard." He tried so hard to make it sound playful, hoping such innocent childhood memories would put Lucy at ease. If Erza trusted him, Lucy would.

"Oh," the blonde muttered with a note of disappointment in her voice. "Erza mentioned something about that. So...you've bathed with Erza, huh?"

_Oh come on, you can't be jealous of Erza too!_ The last thing Natsu wanted Lucy to think was that he and Erza were somehow intimate. Hell no! That woman was way too scary to seduce. Many men had tried, only to get nearly killed. Jellal had some major big balls to fall in love with someone like Erza Scarlet.

"Well, I was really little." It was the best excuse he had: 'blame it on the folly of youth,' as Gildarts said. "It's normal for kids to take baths together, right?"

"I don't know."

Lucy's sad answer pierced Natsu's heart. He had spent his early childhood all alone, no one but Igneel around, no other children. He knew what it was like. However, his later childhood was amidst the crazy antics of Fairy Tail, where there was Gray, Erza, Cana, Mira, Elfman, Lisanna, Levy, and other little children who were his childhood friends. He could not imagine spending his whole life alone.

"Haven't you ever bathed with someone, Lucy?"

"No...well, Cana, but she sort of sneaked into my bath."

Natsu raised an eyebrow at that. Everyone knew Cana had a thing for grabbing boobs, so he wondered about just what happened in that bath.

"And soaking in an onsen or public baths don't count."

Natsu had to agree with that. Public baths never counted.

"All dry!" he announced happily, pulling away from her hair. "I'll get dressed, get the dishes out, then come to bed."

Lucy gave him a warning glare. "Keep to your side or I'll put a pillow between us."

"Haha! No problem," he smiled, hoping to keep Lucy from guessing at just how fast his heart was pounding.

He watched her climb into the bed. He was tempted for a moment to tuck her in, but Natsu could not think of any good excuse to give as to why he should. It would just put Lucy more on guard. So although he yearned to tuck the blankets up to her chin and kiss her goodnight, Natsu turned away to the dining table and began to clean up.

_Dammit, I have to sleep next to her, and I'm feeling like this. Crap! Maybe I could jerk off once more just to make sure I don't do anything stupid. No, Lucy might get suspicious again. I wish I wasn't so loud when I do that sort of thing. Whatever, I might as well try to sleep. Then this night will be over quicker. We'll head off in the morning, and things will be back to normal._

He shoved the tray of dirty dishes out the door, then put on some clothes for bed. He preferred to sleep naked, but Lucy would kill him. He opted to wear his boxers at least. Then he turned off all the lights. He took a few steps toward the bedroom but paused by the balcony window. With the hotel room totally dark, the moon outside looked brighter as the last of the storm clouds scurried by. The waves reflected the lunar light in silver fairy glitter, twinkling as far as the eye could see.

"This really is the most romantic place," Natsu whispered wistfully, "and I get to share it with Lucy."

Natsu was pretty sure he had never felt so happy. Carefully, he tiptoed back over to the bed and gazed down at Lucy. She was already asleep, breathing heavily, body twitching sometimes. She was like an angel, the way her pale skin glowed in the moonlight and her hair shined golden like a halo. He began to reach to her face but suddenly stopped. If he touched her, she might wake up and see the blush on his cheeks. She'd know!

Natsu removed his scarf and draped it around a bedpost, never taking his eyes off of her. He wondered what she dreamed about, if she ever dream of him, if her dreams were as wild as his. Or did she dream of other men? There were plenty of rumors. Lucy might feel jealous about Natsu and Lisanna, but that was nothing compared to what he had to deal with. Always, some rumor circulated about Lucy and some guy, people whispering and thinking Natsu could not hear them. They underestimated a dragon slayer's hearing. At first, they were rumors about him, then Gray, Loke, Laxus, Hibiki, Dan Straight, Sting, even rumors about trysts with Erza and Cana. The worst were rumors about threesomes between her, Natsu, and Gray. Why in the world would he share Lucy with that droopy-eyed ice bastard? He wanted her for himself!

Each rumor made his stomach burn, so he understood why Lucy looked so sad whenever he talked about Lisanna. Personally, Natsu saw no reason why he should not hang out with Lisanna like they used to do. Since returning, she rarely mentioned about wanting to be his wife one day. Natsu heard that Lisanna even approved of him and Lucy. So why was Lucy jealous? It wasn't like Gray or Loke approved of Natsu seeking Lucy as his mate, Laxus didn't give a shit, Hibiki was too busy flirting with everyone, Dan Straight was probably asking out his umpteenth girl, and Sting...what the hell was up with the rumors about Lucy and Sting?

When asked on the matter, Erza declared that none of the men in the guild were mature enough for Lucy. Levy seemed sure that Lucy would find the right man _some day_, but she refused to give her thoughts on which one was best. Cana approved of a male harem...Natsu was unsure what _harem_ meant, but it seemed like she was okay with all of them. So Natsu got no real support, whereas at least Lisanna supported Lucy.

Natsu was fine with that. He didn't need anyone's support! He already knew he wanted Lucy. Nothing was going to change that.

Natsu climbed into the bed as carefully as possible. Lucy's heavy breathing startled for a moment, then she fell back to sleep.

"Mmm...Natsu," she mumbled in her sleep.

He stared at the moonlight on her face and smiled. So, her dreams were about him, huh? That made him feel a bit smug. He hoped they were good dreams. Suddenly, the weariness of a week of traveling began to weigh on him. His ankle still throbbed. Natsu wished he could stare at Lucy's sleeping face all night, but his eyes tried to pull downward. He reached forward and lightly stroked Lucy's skin on the back of her neck.

"Sweet dreams," he whispered before falling into a dream.

* * *

Natsu knew this dream. He _hated_ this dream. He had dreamed it many times before, ever since Lisanna returned home and those rumors started about Lucy possibly leaving the guild. The dream ended differently every time, and each time he dreamed it, Natsu tried other tactics to get Lucy to stay. They used to all fail, but lately he was getting better at making her stay. Still, he hated the dream because he hated to think that Lucy would ever want to leave him.

First, he grabbed her sleeve to keep her from walking away. The dream always started this way, Lucy informing Mirajane that she was quitting, Natsu overhearing and running after her, only to catch her in the street and grab her by the sleeve. Always the same beginning for this dream.

"Lucy, why are you leaving Fairy Tail?"

She glared back at him. "Why should I stay? You have Lisanna back."

"So what?" he yelled in a panic.

"Don't you care about her, Natsu?" she asked angrily. "Aren't you happy to have her back?"

"Of course I am," he sighed in frustrated confusion. "Lisanna and I go way back. I'm so happy she's alive, I want to cry every time I see her."

Lucy turned and marched away. Natsu kept following her.

"Seriously, what's wrong? So she's back," he shrugged. "Why does that mean you have to leave? Do you think she's gonna replace you?"

Lucy spun around, and by the look on her face Natsu knew that was precisely what she was thinking.

He walked up to her and gently held her shoulders. "Lucy," he whispered reassuringly. "Team Natsu was founded by three people: you, me, and Happy. That's our core members. No one in the world can replace you."

She stubbornly looked away. "Because I'm a blonde you need to seduce men from time to time?"

"No! Hell no!" Natsu shouted. "It's because..." He paused. How he stated this next part always affected the dream. "Because..."

He was going to try something different this time. Maybe it was a semi-conscious part of him that knew Lucy was sleeping beside him, but he wanted this dream-Lucy like never before in any other dream. Instead of some explanation, which sometimes worked and usually failed, Natsu expressed himself without words. He grabbed Lucy and kissed her.

The dream shifted. That was new! Usually, he either spent the rest of the dream arguing why she should stay while watching her persistently walk away until they reached the border of Magnolia, where he would stand there, trapped as if by invisible runes, screaming at her to come back while Lucy faded away down the road; or he would convince her to stay, they returned to the guild, and the rest of the dream was the two of them sharing a chocolate malt shake.

This time, they were still kissing, but it was dark. By the smell—yes, Natsu could smell in his dreams—this was Lucy's home. Also, he was unsure how or why they ended up this way, but somehow he and Lucy were both naked. In the dream, these sudden changes made perfect sense. He was naked, Lucy was in his arms...it was like a dream.

Oh wait, it was one.

Anyway, it was like a dream come true, and Natsu hummed at the feel of her creamy skin.

"Natsu," she moaned heatedly in the darkness. "We shouldn't."

Still, her hands clung to him and her breasts pressed out, as if begging to be touched. Natsu smiled to himself as he thought he should tease her a bit for making his dreams so terrible in the past.

"What shouldn't I do, Lucy? Should I not do this?"

He grabbed her breasts. She gasped, but her body pressed against him harder. He saw how perk her nipples were, and he tugged gently on them, making them harder. Lucy cried out and shuddered at his touch. Her voice made Natsu's cock twitch, and he felt it rub against the smooth skin of her belly.

"Mmmm...Lucy, you're so soft."

"More, Natsu," she begged.

"If you want more, you need to give me more." He leaned into her ear, because saying the words felt embarrassing. "Touch me, Lucy."

Lucy's hand drifted between their bodies. Her eyes looked up into his, filled with uncertainties, but he just smiled at her and guided her hand down, letting her know it was okay. Then both of their hands came to his aching member. He moved her fingers to wrap around him, then with his hand firmly around her fingers, he gave himself a stroke up, then down.

"Like that, Lucy."

"Then you, too." Now she took his hand and brought it to her. She folded down his ring finger and pinkie, then slipped the other two fingers between her thighs. "You also touch me."

He felt moistness and skin far softer than Lucy's normal skin. Natsu knew only a little bit about women's anatomy, mostly from overhearing dirty girl talk from Cana, bragging from Laxus, or whispers about sex from the older guild members, talking softly enough for the other kids not to hear, but Natsu's ears were better than the normal person. He knew women were supposedly moist and soft, and they had some sort of hole where his _thing_ went inside. Besides that, he really did not know much about girls. Igneel did not teach him about that sort of subject besides basic rules on the etiquette of how to acquire a human mate. As he grew up, Natsu had a feeling that Igneel knew very little about real human girls.

So in his dream, Lucy was only as much as he personally knew: she was wet, she was soft, and he felt a hole for his fingers to slide inside. Inside that hole, it was hot and juicy...at least, that was how men in the guild described it. He did not focus that much on what he was feeling, since he was unsure how the real Lucy might feel. Instead, his brain focused inward, on his own sensations and what Lucy was doing to him.

She stroked him far more tenderly than he had ever touched himself. Her hands gripped him just right, and he heated up at her touches. He thought about throwing her to the bed and taking her forcefully, but even in his dreams, Natsu was ignorant when it came to sexual matters. He knew what he wanted instinctively, but what it might feel like, what precisely he was supposed to do, how his _thing_ went into her _hole_...when it came to those sorts of things, Natsu had no clue what to do. So in his dream, he only did things he knew about, like what it felt like to touch himself.

"Mmm...more," he groaned.

Lucy's fingers gave a harder grasp, and Natsu's jaw clenched. Sparks were tingling him already. He knew this feeling, he knew the huge lightning bolt would hit him, something wonderful that messed his sheets in the morning. He wanted more from this dream before that moment happened. He wanted something he had heard Laxus talk about, something that made Freed blush fiercely, Bickslow to laugh uproariously, and Evergreen to scream at Laxus to watch his mouth.

"Suck me," he ordered.

To his surprise, Lucy backed away, so that his fingers left her moist hole. "You really want that, Natsu?"

He felt uncertain for a moment. He was not really even sure what it might feel like, but dream-Lucy had a flirtatious smile, as if she knew precisely what he meant. Determined not to look bashful in front of her, Natsu nodded firmly. Then Lucy dropped to her knees in front of him. Before he could ask why she was kneeling, Lucy crawled closer, reached around, and grabbed Natsu's buttocks. He jolted at the touch, but then he saw Lucy's mouth very close to his cock.

He watched Lucy lick her lips like a hungry cat. However, she looked up at him with a smirk.

"Are you sure you want this, Natsu?"

Seeing her down on her knees in front of him, mere centimeters from his cock, made Natsu feel more certain now. "Please," he said in a husky voice. "I want you to suck on me, Lucy. Please."

Yes, he said please. Elfman said it was manly to ask the woman nicely to do things, and more than anything, Natsu wanted Lucy to think he was manly, not some foolishly young idiot. He stroked her hair, pleading with his eyes, wanting this more than anything now. He wanted her mouth on him. He wanted to be inside her. Although he still was unsure what it was like to be inside her _down there_, at least he had a little idea about what sucking was like. He had sucked on plenty of pickles, bananas, and lollipops in the past, after all.

She kissed the very tip of his head, still partly covered by foreskin, and even that made his cock twitch. Then he watched with fascination as her tongue came out just a little, and she gave a hot, wet lick up the base of his cock to his tip.

"Nnngh," Natsu moaned, tensing up at the feel.

She licked him again, and this time her lips held his foreskin up over his head while her tongue fit inside, licking the flared edge of his cock and the inside of the foreskin. The inside of that skin was so immensely sensitive, Natsu felt ready to burst already. She leaned back onto her heels and tugged the foreskin, making it stretch, being a little rough with it until Natsu felt ready to faint from pleasure.

"Do you like when I play with your skin, Natsu?" she asked in a seductive voice.

He nodded vehemently. "More," he groaned.

"What if I did this?" She leaned forward, but this time she nibbled on the foreskin, tugging it more while her teeth nipped gently.

Natsu's head threw back. "Aaagh!" he cried out. Such sensitivity made Natsu grab at Lucy's head. "Please, not that. It's...too much."

"Alright, I'll stop teasing."

She left off playing with him, pushed the foreskin over the head with her lips, and slid it down the shaft with her mouth. When she pulled back, she licked the frenulum and let her lips pull on the skin just a little more, giggling when Natsu whined at the intense feeling. Then her mouth went fully around his head, letting it pop inside like a piece of candy.

How the hell was dream-Lucy this awesome? He could not even jerk himself off this good, and she was doing things he had never thought of before. He usually just pushed the foreskin aside and got to business, but Lucy toyed with it. Her fingers played with it, rubbing it where the skin felt most sensitive. Her tongue lapped circles around him. Natsu had horny dreams in the past, but never this good, never so real, as if he could really feel Lucy's mouth on him. Still...

"More," he begged.

Her mouth slid down his length, and her hand held the base, choking it slightly, making him swell more. Natsu keened at how she sucked on him so fervently, how her lips held him tightly, and the way her tongue made a lapping circle on the underside of his head every so often. He tensed up, but Lucy squeezed tighter at his base, preventing him from finishing. Then she hummed.

"Ahh!"

The vibration shot all through his nerves. He felt the need to release, but she was thoroughly in control. His hand grabbed onto her head, encouraging her to go faster, deeper, make her lips tighter. He felt her teeth scrape ever so softly, and the pain was a pleasant jolt through all of his nether regions. He felt his knees shaking and his toes curling.

"Lucy, I...I can't go on."

"Beg, Natsu," she ordered with her lips still around him.

"Please...please let me cum."

Her fingers loosened, and Natsu shot off so hard, he was afraid it might hurt her. Instead, Lucy moved slower on him, like squeezing the last bit of toothpaste out of a tube, or sucking the last of drops of sweet juiciness off a popsicle stick. Then he felt her swallow. He was stunned. His...stuff...was inside Lucy now. A bit of him was still with her, inside her. Somehow, that made him feel possessive, like he had claimed her.

He took Lucy's chin, now covered with drool, and lifted her back up. She rose to her feet looking dazed and still hungry, swallowing as if bits of him was still in her mouth, and she wanted to swallow all of it. He loved those lips now, worshiped that mouth that had given him so much pleasure. He kissed her firmly. He wished he could do more, something to show her how deeply he loved her for what she just did.

"You're my mate," he said, feeling bold. "With this..." and he touched her lips with the two fingers he had used inside of her, "...I claim you."

Lucy blinked in surprise. "But Lisanna..."

"Is a friend, and she'll always be my friend. I love you...way more than I ever liked Lisanna," he declared.

Lucy pulled away. "Then you _did_ like her!"

"Yes, as a friend." Despite his explanation, Lucy tried to pull away. "Lucy!" He grabbed her around the chest and hugged her close. He squeezed her as if fearing this dream might end as another bad dream, after it had been so incredibly good. "I love you, Lucy," he whispered into her ear. "You're my mate, the only person who can make me feel this crazy, the only woman I ever want to touch...like this."

One hand slid off from her chest, down her belly, and those two fingers slid between her thighs again. Her moan encouraged him.

"I'm stupid, I'm inexperienced, I don't know what to do in these matters, but I know I want to do them only with you. So please, Lucy...come back."

She glanced around at him. "You...really love me?"

"More than any other nakama. Even more than Happy, but don't tell him I said that. He'd cry."

That made Lucy laugh, and he grinned at her glittering eyes. He took her cheek, turned her head a little more around, and kissed her. His tongue explored the inside of her mouth, licking her in thanks for taking him inside and making him a part of herself. He wanted her to be inside of him, but he was unsure how. Nothing came out of her boobs, and she did not have something _down there_ like him. How could he keep a part of her with him?

When Lucy twisted to face him again, he had to remove his fingers from inside her. That was when he smelled something. He had smelled it before when he once accidentally sniffed some of Lucy's dirty underwear. It was an arousing smell, and it was coming from that mysterious hole. He brought his fingers up and saw sticky juice between them. It was sort of like the cum he shot off, only different, clearer, and with an intoxicating smell. He stuck his fingers in his mouth, and the smell and taste united.

That taste...he wanted more!

"Lucy," he whispered. "Lie down. I wanna try something."

She walked to the bed and reclined on the pillows. She was like a goddess lying there! Natsu climbed onto the bed too, kissed her, then sucked her breasts for just a little bit. Finally, he moved down between her legs. It was dark, he could not see the mysterious area in front of him—he did not know what women looked like down there anyway—but the smell guided him.

"Mmm...smells good," he hummed.

His tongue licked Lucy, and she arched with a cry. He kept licking her. He did not know what he was doing, so his dream was vague now. Licking, lapping up Lucy's juice, swallowing it down, making her a part of him, while Lucy moaned and urged him for more, just as he had done. A semi-conscious part of him made a note to listen more often to the girls in the guild about anything to do with eating up a girl like this. Cana had mentioned it, but not in detail. Natsu wanted to know more. He wanted to know what to do. If he knew, then these dreams could be even better.

The dream went hazy, but finally he felt Lucy bucking up.

"Put your fingers inside, Natsu," she ordered.

He did, and he still kept licking the juice that flowed past his fingers, dripping all over. He felt clenching tightness around his fingers. Lucy's inner body heated up, and her voice got louder. She began to scream his name, and that made Natsu want to do more. He did not know what, but he wanted to make Lucy a part of him.

Just then, she clenched hard, and something squirted. Natsu looked confused. No one ever said women cummed. Did she piss? No, this was different. It was the same smell that had been driving him crazy, but even stronger, if that was possible. Then he recalled Gray in a bragging moment talking about making Juvia _squirt_. Natsu had thought nothing of it at the time. Juvia's body was made of water, so of course she probably squirted fluid from all over the place. However, his subconscious must have wondered about this whole _squirting_ issue, because now he was seeing Lucy do it. He realized it was something he could drink up. He put his mouth close to her, and he caught the clear fluid that sprayed out. Then he swallowed it down.

It was an overpowering and intensely satisfying sensation. Part of him was in Lucy, and now part of her was inside him. He climbed up and hugged Lucy close to him, grasping her possessively. Lucy was sweaty and panting, but she grabbed him just as tightly, clinging on to his shoulders while her body still shivered from pleasure.

"Natsu," she sighed wearily with happiness.

"You're my mate, Lucy," he whispered, smoothing back her hair so he could look at the milky white skin of her neck and shoulders. "I want you forever. Please...be my wife."

Lucy looked shocked, then she kissed him happily. "Where will we go for a honeymoon?"

Natsu smiled to himself. "I know the perfect hotel."

* * *

Morning was a horrible distraction to his dreams, and Natsu tried to ignore the sunlight. However, as smells of tea wafted to his nose, Natsu finally woke up...

And instantly forgot his dreams.

All he knew was that it had been a good dream this time, and it was about Lucy. He glanced over to the other side of the bed, hoping to see the pretty blonde still sleeping. However, she was gone, the blankets were pulled aside, and he realized the smell of tea was Lucy in the hotel suite's tiny kitchenette.

"Morning, Natsu," she called out cheerfully.

"Mm...mornin'," he called back, barely able to see her through the sleep in his eyes and the wall partly blocking his view. Watching Lucy swiftly moving around in the kitchen was a relaxing sight. He would never tell her something so sexist as she looked good in the kitchen, but surprisingly...she really did! The way her apron twirled around her, the look of her legs when she tiptoed to reach into a cabinet, the home-like feel her whole body gave off, made him want to wake up like this every morning.

Natsu rose slowly from his pillows and cracked out his stiff neck. He sniffed. Something smelled off. Then he looked down at the mess in his boxers.

"Shit," he hissed quietly, blushing hotly. "Even after I worked it off in the shower. Damn."

He began to panic. A wet dream? Of all times! Had he done anything weird in the night?

_Oh God, don't tell me I had sex with Lucy in my sleep! That's the worst. Wait, I remember a little bit of my dream._

He remembered watching Lucy on her knees sucking on him. That memory made his cock twitch once again, so he pushed those phantom fantasies aside. Lucy was still by the sink humming as she boiled water and spooned out some fragrant tea leaves. Had she seen him like this? He had no blankets over him, so she must have. Yet if she did, she would have hit him, or at least shouted in anger and called him a sick pervert. Instead, she seemed in a good mood.

Maybe he kicked the blankets off later. Maybe she did not look at him. Maybe he was lying on his stomach when she woke up, so the evidence of his naughty dreams was hidden. All he knew was that he had to somehow hide this from Lucy.

"Hey Lucy," he called out. "Uh..." _Quick, think of something to get her to not look at me!_ "Does this place have darjeeling tea?"

"Let me check."

To his luck, Lucy walked over to a cupboard. Her back was to him, and it looked like she had to search through many canisters of tea. He rose from the bed, a hand to his crotch as he felt the dried semen sticking to himself and his clothes. He grabbed a change of boxers, then frantically raced across the main sitting room to the bathroom and slammed the door shut behind him. He leaned his head against the door, panting slightly from terror that his perversions might be discovered by the girl he liked.

Thank goodness for a haute hotel with all sorts of luxuries like a dozen different teas!

Once he was fairly certain Lucy had not seen him, he pulled the boxer off and tossed them in the sink. He turned the water on and let them soak a bit. Then he jumped in the shower and cleaned himself thoroughly. He was sweaty, sticky, and the white mess on his body had to be scrubbed hard to clean up. When he pulled back the foreskin to clean the underside, more bits of the dream came back to him: Lucy nipping his skin, sucking on it, sticking her tongue inside it while it was still pulled over his head. Natsu gasped from a jolt caused by that memory, and instantly he was erect again.

"I've seriously got a problem," he muttered, but there was no use putting it off. He stroked himself fast and with a purpose, to work it off before Lucy could finish making tea. That took five minutes. He heated his hand just a little, which usually helped to speed the process along. Luckily, indulging in bit of fantasy from the night before helped him to cum fast. He was also rather proud that he managed to finish off without moaning at all. Then it was necessary to clean up all over again.

By the time he stepped out of the shower, he was fairly certain his body was far too tired to even want to get hard for the rest of the day, even if Lucy pranced around naked for him. He dried himself off, put on his fresh boxers, and checked his drenched shorts. The mess had become moistened, so it was easier to clean. He scrubbed them in the sink, squeezed out as much water as he could, used his fire to dry them, then balled them up and hoped Lucy would not see them. There was a robe in the bathroom, so he wrapped that around him to further hide the old boxers.

Finally, he stepped out and hurried to his bag to stuff those boxers as deeply down as he could. He looked worriedly over to the kitchenette, but Lucy was still humming and making tea. Slowly, feeling the fatigue pulling on his body like a sack of rocks, he walked over to a small table and carefully sat down. Lucy stirred a teacup, then happily brought it over to him.

"Darjeeling, two sugars as you like it." As she leaned over to deliver the tea, her breasts were practically in Natsu's face, and he was glad to find that his body gave no rise at all to that flaunted temptation.

He decided she sounded normal enough. Maybe she had not seen anything. Natsu wondered if she even bothered to look at him when she woke up. Had she not even been slightly tempted? After all, a boy and girl sharing the same bed, even if they were teammates, was a bit risqué. Even if it had been Erza or Levy, Natsu might have felt just a little bit of nervousness. Did Lucy really feel nothing? That troubled him a bit.

"Did you sleep well?" she asked in a friendly tone.

"Mm," he hummed, sipping the steaming tea. "And you? I wasn't...loud or tossing around, was I?" He watched her face for the faintest hints that maybe he had done something inappropriate.

"You talk in your sleep," she told him factually.

"Yeah, Happy mentions that, too," he muttered. Then suddenly, something struck him.

_Shit, that's right, I talk in my sleep. What if I moaned her name? What if I declared my love for her in my sleep? Seriously, that would be just terrible, to tell Lucy that I like her while still asleep. I want to tell her properly. Or maybe I said something even worse. Maybe I was talking dirty. Crap, what did I even say in the dream? I can't remember it well enough.  
_

"Did I...um...say anything weird?" he asked, shrinking down a little. "I mean, they're only dreams but..."

She cut off his mumbling. "I couldn't make out much. Something about Lisanna."

Natsu jolted in confusion. "Huh? Lisanna?" What the hell did Lisanna have to do with anything?

Lucy glanced up at him. "Yes, you said her name."

Natsu dropped his eyes, and his brow tensed as he thought over the dream again. Where did Lisanna fit in? He could not remember much about the dream, just bits and pieces, and nothing in those memories was about Lisanna.

_Wait, the dream was about Lucy, right? Yes, it was definitely Lucy. So why would Lisanna...? Oh crap, what if I had another threesome dream?_

"It wasn't a lot," she assured him, disturbing his momentary panic. "I slept really well."

"That's...good," he mumbled, sipping more tea to hide his troubled face.

He really could not recall seeing Lisanna in the dream, but surely he had more than just one dream last night. He also had some dream about fighting dinosaurs, but he could not recall anything about that one. So it was possible he had a threesome dream. If he did, it must have not been a good one, definitely not as good as the dream with only Lucy. He could only recall his really good dreams.

Or wait...that dream usually started off with Lucy trying to leave because of Lisanna. Natsu sighed a little as he realized _that_ must be why he said Lisanna's name. He wanted to explain it—after all, he did not want Lucy to think he was fantasizing over Lisanna...well, unless they were the threesome dreams, but those were just weird and crazy—but then he realized that he would have to explain the whole thing, including why he desperately did not want Lucy to leave the guild. That meant confessing his feelings, and that was something Natsu was not ready to do.

An hour later, they had eaten and packed without anything more said about dreams or how they slept. The rain had cleared, the sky shined blue, and only a few rain puddles in the road showed that there had been a summer storm the day before. Natsu stepped out of the hotel and inhaled deeply. It smelled like a good day.

"Hey, Natsu."

He glanced back at Lucy, who had paused to look up at the hotel's entrance.

"When you marry, you should definitely take your bride here. It's a perfect getaway."

He grinned happily. "Great! After all, it's your opinion that matters most."

_Oh crap, did I really just say that? Run away!_

He hurried forward, desperate to play off the slip of a confession. Instead, he did the most foolish thing he could think of: stomping puddles. It was actually really fun, and it distracted him from the sense of embarrassment, so he figured it surely had to distract Lucy. However, when he looked back, she was still standing there with a dumbstruck face. Seriously, puddle splashing wasn't enough? Then he just had to get her away from this place so she would think of something else.

"Don't be a slow-poke, Lucy." He grabbed her hand, yanking her out of her thoughts as he pulled her down the road. Touching her skin made him happy, and that possessive feeling came back to him. "Hey, I wanna pay for our hotels from now on."

"What...?"

"But only if it's just the two of us," he insisted rather firmly, "and only if we share a room. Okay?" That had to be the deal, otherwise he would probably be stuck paying for her hotel every time the team went out, and this was something he wanted to do that was special for just the two of them.

Lucy blushed. "Isn't that...sort of like being on a honeymoon?"

He blinked at her question, then his smile widened. "Yeah, it is. So that's what I wanna do."

_Crap, I did it again. Run away! Or...wait, why should I run? I like saying something like that to Lucy. I want to be honest, and I honestly want more honeymoon nights with her. One day, we'll have a real honeymoon. Besides, she looks hilarious with that bright red face._

Natsu laughed with a light sense of joy in his heart, happy to have Lucy with him, but still not ready to fully declare just how much he liked her. Instead, he kept his hand wrapped around hers, wanting to hold onto her soft fingers forever, and he pulled her away from the dreamy haze of that haute hotel.

**End of Chapter 2  
**

* * *

_A/N: Seriously, NaLu fans are too kind. I got yet another 100 reviews mostly filled with people begging me not to leave this as a two-shot, but to write one more chapter. I'm a bit busy at the moment, but how can I say no to so many kind messages! (Honestly, I'm more scared that if I don't write about these two actually hooking up, a mob of angry fangirls will swarm out of my monitor and hold one of Erza's swords at my throat until I finish it.) Tell me what you hope will come next.  
_


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